Back in early August, we first started hearing that Microsoft was distancing itself from the Metro name to describe the visual style used predominantly in Windows Phone, and that was coming to Windows 8. In the weeks that followed, we saw Microsoft put some serious restrictions on “Metro” in place, forbidding developers from using it to describe their apps. While it was clear that Microsoft was wiping its hands of Metro, we still didn’t know how it expected us to refer to the style anymore. We heard “Modern” tossed around as a suggested replacement, and most recently looked into “MX” being used, instead. We’re not sure if this is the final word on the new “Metro”, but Microsoft has now begun using the mouthful “Microsoft design style”.

That phrase pops-up on a couple of Microsoft’s pages discussing app design guidelines for Windows 8 titles intended for release through the Windows Store. There’s no mention of Metro, and no mention of MX, just “Microsoft design style”. Since it’s not all capitalized, it’s not clear if that’s a new formal title for the style, or just a descriptive one, but it definitely seems to be what Microsoft is going with for the time being.